New council power team to hold on to £1m SNP fighting fund for Angus rebuild
Ousted SNP councillors say they will be 'watching closely' how a million-pound fund to rebuild Angus is used by the group which dumped them from power.
The £1 million Angus infrastructure fund was revealed when the council set its budget in February.
It was a surprise announcement by the then SNP-led administration.
And the fund was the key difference between its budget and opposition proposals.
Ex-leader Bill Duff planned to use it to unlock around £20m of extra borrowing capacity.
He said it would 'restore basic infrastructure that has suffered from underinvestment and climate-related damage for some time.'
Rebuilding Brechin after Storm Babet and combating the threat of coastal erosion at Montrose were given as examples.
But it proved to be the SNP's last big move before they lost control of Angus Council.
A new multi-party coalition grabbed power in April after securing a vote of no confidence in the ruling group.
It is led by one-time stand-in SNP chief George Meechan and Arbroath Conservative Derek Wann.
Kirriemuir councillor Mr Meechan confirmed the seven-figure fund will stay in the spending plans.
'The administration group have no plans to change the overall concept of the infrastructure fund,' he said.
Former leader Mr Duff said: 'I very much welcome that the incoming administration recognise the value of the innovative infrastructure fund introduced in February's budget by the SNP/Independent administration.
'This offers over £20m of additional capital resource.
'This initial investment will start to address Angus's serious infrastructure requirements.
'Specifically, we were very conscious of the need to spend capital on dealing with the aftermath of Storm Babet and the reconstruction required in Brechin, and the impacts of coastal erosion in Montrose, both impacts of global warming.
'As the public will know, neither the then opposition budget nor the non-aligned budget addressed these two critical issues.'
'We will be watching carefully how this fund is used.'
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